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ACLS Fellowships

The deadline for this program has passed. The description below is for information purposes only. Awardees in the 2017-18 competition will be announced in the spring.

Fellowship Details

Maximum award:$70,000 for full Professor and scholars of equivalent accomplishment$50,000 for Associate Professor and equivalent$40,000 for Assistant Professor and equivalent

Tenure: six to twelve consecutive months devoted to full-time research and/or writing, to be initiated between July 1, 2018 and February 1, 2019

Completed applications must be submitted through the ACLS online fellowship and grant administration system (ofa.acls.org) no later than 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time, September 27, 2017.

Notifications will be sent via email by early March 2018.

The ACLS Fellowship program includes a joint fellowship with the New York Public Library (additional information below ), as well as named awards made possible by generous donations to ACLS. The following named fellowships will be awarded to selected applicants to the overall ACLS Fellowship program:

Summary

ACLS invites research applications from scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and related social sciences. Faculty appointments are not required. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant, which can take the form of a monograph, articles, digital publication(s), critical edition, or other scholarly resources. ACLS does not fund creative work (e.g., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translation, or pedagogical projects.

ACLS Fellowships are intended as salary replacement to help scholars devote six to twelve continuous months to full-time research and writing. The awards are portable and are tenable at the fellow's home institution, abroad, or at another appropriate site for research. (1) An ACLS Fellowship may be held concurrently with other fellowships and grants and any sabbatical pay, up to an amount equal to the candidate's current academic year salary. Tenure of the fellowship may begin no earlier than July 1, 2018 and no later than February 1, 2019.

The fellowship stipend is set at three levels based on academic rank (or rank equivalency based on scholarly attainment): up to $40,000 for Assistant Professor and career equivalent, up to $50,000 for Associate Professor and career equivalent; and up to $70,000 for full Professor and career equivalent. ACLS will determine the level based on the candidate's rank or equivalent rank as of the application deadline.

For 2017-18, the program has expanded to award 78 fellowships. Approximately 27 fellowships will be awarded at the Assistant Professor level, approximately 27 at the Associate Professor level, and approximately 24 at the full Professor level. It is ACLS’s expectation that the growth of the program will allow for the fellows selected to be even more broadly representative of the variety of humanistic scholarship across all fields of study. We also believe that demographic diversity enhances scholarship, and aspire to recognize academic excellence from all sectors of higher education and beyond.

In addition to these awards, ACLS introduces with this competition a new set of ACLS Project Development Grants for projects from faculty at teaching-intensive institutions. Applicants from these institutions who are not selected for fellowships but present particularly promising proposals may be awarded a grant of $5,000 to help advance their projects. (See FAQ for more information.)

Institutions and individuals contribute to the ACLS Fellowship program and its endowment, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council's Research University Consortium and college and university Associates, former fellows, and individual friends of ACLS.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

be a US citizen or permanent resident

have a PhD that was conferred at least two years before the application deadline. (An established scholar who can demonstrate the equivalent of a PhD in publications and professional experience may also qualify.)

have had a lapse of at least two years between the last "supported research leave" and September 1, 2018. Please see FAQ about the definition of supported research leaves and how the timing of such leaves affects eligibility.

Application Requirements

Applications must be submitted online and must include:

Completed application form

Proposal (no more than five pages, double spaced, in Times New Roman 11-point font)

Up to two additional pages of images, musical scores, or other similar supporting non-text materials [optional]

Bibliography (no more than two pages)

Publications list (no more than two pages)

Two reference letters

Evaluation Criteria

Peer reviewers in this program are asked to evaluate all eligible proposals on the following four criteria:

The potential of the project to advance the field of study in which it is proposed and make an original and significant contribution to knowledge.

The quality of the proposal with regard to its methodology, scope, theoretical framework, and grounding in the relevant scholarly literature.

The feasibility of the project and the likelihood that the applicant will execute the work within the proposed time frame.

The scholarly record and career trajectory of the applicant, taking into account relative advantages and constraints on resources for the proposed project and over the course of her or his career.

Reviewers are asked to be mindful of ACLS’s commitment to inclusive excellence, and of how equity and diversity are integral components of merit.

ACLS/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowships

In order to encourage humanistic research in area studies, special funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and ACLS has been set aside for ACLS/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowships to be designated among the successful applicants to the central ACLS Fellowship competition. Scholars pursuing research and writing on the societies and cultures of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union will be eligible for these special fellowships.

Application must be made to the ACLS Fellowship program and all requirements and provisions of that program must be met, with the addition that (a) an International and Area Studies Fellow must be either a US citizen or a permanent resident who has lived in the United States continuously for at least three years by the application deadline and (b) the fellowship will be used for research and/or writing while based abroad. These fellows also must submit a final report to both NEH and ACLS. Designation of the ACLS/NEH International and Area Studies Fellows will be made by ACLS.

ACLS/New York Public Library Fellowships

ACLS may give up to five residential fellowships per year in conjunction with The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. The Center provides opportunities for up to 15 fellows to explore the rich, diverse collections in the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The Center also serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas among fellows, invited guests, the wider academic and cultural communities, and the interested public. It provides individual office space and common areas in the Library building. Fellows are required to be in residence from September 4, 2018 through May 31, 2019 and to participate in Center activities. These may include lunches, panel discussions, public conversations, symposia, and interviews. More information about The New York Public Library and its collections is available on the website.

The stipend for ACLS/NYPL fellowships will be $70,000, regardless of the applicant’s faculty rank or rank equivalency. ACLS/NYPL fellowships are subfellowships within the overarching ACLS Fellowship program; they have the same eligibility requirements, application form, and schedule. The only additional proviso is that these residential fellowships will be granted to scholars whose projects will benefit from research in the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Please Note: Because this is a joint fellowship, applicants for ACLS/NYPL residential fellowships must also apply to the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the NYPL. The application for the NYPL competition is available here. The deadline for application and letters of recommendation is 5 pm Eastern Daylight Time, September 29, 2017.

An application for an ACLS/NYPL residential fellowship may have any one of the following outcomes:

a fellowship awarded solely by the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the NYPL,

an ACLS Fellowship awarded solely by ACLS,

or an ACLS/NYPL residential fellowship awarded jointly by the two organizations.

Through a partnership with the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), an international membership organization of interdisciplinary research centers with over 170 members and affiliates in 23 countries, ACLS fellows have the opportunity to spend all or part of their fellowship terms in residence at selected CHCI member organizations. This is an optional enhancement to the award for ACLS fellows. Back to text.